Congratulations! You made it! You survived and excelled in your student teaching. You are now a science teacher! If you would, take a few minutes to share your wisdom about how to negotiate this difficult year with the students who are following in your footsteps by answering the following questions.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
*Get to know your CT well. Having a more friendly relationship with this teacher who will control you life for the next 14 or 7 weeks is to your benefit, and it will cut down the awkwardness on your first couple of days taking over their classroom (believe me it is definitely awkward at first).
*Keep in touch over Christmas break as well as (if your Middle school also) during you middle school rotation. It will make the transition much easier if you know where the classes are going once you are in the classroom.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
*Use your wiki!! Making a wiki is such a simple thing because you can work on it when you have free time, and then not touch it for weeks, and then come back to it etc....on and on. This tool is soooo useful!! Post things that you want to be sure to look at in class, such as videos or links to articles...the info is now in one place all you have to do in front of the class is click. Let your students use it!! They usually think that it is pretty neat that their teacher has his or her own website especially if you really jazz it up. Encourage students to use it outside the classroom, either for homework, extra credit resources, or research purposes.
*I <3 Diigo!! This online RSS feed maker/article archiver is such an awesome teacher resource....see a cool article on CNN...Diigo it and it is sure to be useful later...plus you'll know where to find it :)
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have been better prepared for student teaching if I had ...." Kept a folder or bookmarked (in one place) lessons that I thought were cool. When your under the gun and trying to find that awesome food web lesson you saw online months ago, it never seems to reappear no matter how hard you google it. Keep a folder of lessons, and even short activities that are readily available to you at all times. Sometimes during planning your left with a time slot that is not large enough to start a new lesson so those quick 15-20 minute activities you saved earlier come in handy.
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
* Sometimes you have to be pushy...respectful...but pushy...Just because your CT isn't letting you in on what's going on tomorrow or the next day doesn't mean that it's not for you to know...You should know!!! Be pushy and ask questions, if you don't you will surely be surprised when your CT tells you that you're teaching tomorrow without any previous discussion...
*Be yourself!! Let your personality come through your teaching. Stuffy notes seem to be the norm, but you don't have to be :) You are a young, new teacher and should be enthusiastic...it's a good thing!
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
*Get to know your CT well. Having a more friendly relationship with this teacher who will control you life for the next 14 or 7 weeks is to your benefit, and it will cut down the awkwardness on your first couple of days taking over their classroom (believe me it is definitely awkward at first).
*Keep in touch over Christmas break as well as (if your Middle school also) during you middle school rotation. It will make the transition much easier if you know where the classes are going once you are in the classroom.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
*Use your wiki!! Making a wiki is such a simple thing because you can work on it when you have free time, and then not touch it for weeks, and then come back to it etc....on and on. This tool is soooo useful!! Post things that you want to be sure to look at in class, such as videos or links to articles...the info is now in one place all you have to do in front of the class is click. Let your students use it!! They usually think that it is pretty neat that their teacher has his or her own website especially if you really jazz it up. Encourage students to use it outside the classroom, either for homework, extra credit resources, or research purposes.
*I <3 Diigo!! This online RSS feed maker/article archiver is such an awesome teacher resource....see a cool article on CNN...Diigo it and it is sure to be useful later...plus you'll know where to find it :)
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have been better prepared for student teaching if I had ...."
Kept a folder or bookmarked (in one place) lessons that I thought were cool. When your under the gun and trying to find that awesome food web lesson you saw online months ago, it never seems to reappear no matter how hard you google it. Keep a folder of lessons, and even short activities that are readily available to you at all times. Sometimes during planning your left with a time slot that is not large enough to start a new lesson so those quick 15-20 minute activities you saved earlier come in handy.
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
* Sometimes you have to be pushy...respectful...but pushy...Just because your CT isn't letting you in on what's going on tomorrow or the next day doesn't mean that it's not for you to know...You should know!!! Be pushy and ask questions, if you don't you will surely be surprised when your CT tells you that you're teaching tomorrow without any previous discussion...
*Be yourself!! Let your personality come through your teaching. Stuffy notes seem to be the norm, but you don't have to be :) You are a young, new teacher and should be enthusiastic...it's a good thing!